Keep up with Lauren as she serves a mission in Tempe, Arizona for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Monday, December 10, 2012

Hello!!

So I can't believe
that I've been out on my mission for just over a month! Crazy how time flies
by! I want to thank you all for your letters and packages. I finally sent out
my letters in the mail last week so hopefully everyone has gotten them. (I have
been sending letters to Anita, so hopefully she's gotten them?) We love to open
up our Advents everyday and read the stories. :) You're the best mom!

Did you enjoy the
pictures I sent you? I forgot my camera cord today, so there won't be any
pictures.

So this week has been
another crazy week as a missionary. The days go by long, but the weeks really
do go by fast. This week we had like every lesson cancel on us, but that was
okay. I am getting the hang out rejection and it hasn't bothered me. I'm also
getting the hang of OYMing and yesterday I had a really neat experience. We
went to the park in our area, Discovery Park, and we just started talking to
everyone that we saw. I started talking to this lady. Said we were
misisonaries sharing a message about Jesus Christ and how He's
blessed our lives and eternal families. Then we got to know her and it turns
out she's a reading teacher and I felt prompted to ask her about if she had
read and/or knew about the Book of Mormon. She said she had heard of it and I
testified that the Book of Mormon had changed my life unlike any other book
that I have read. I explained that I too was an advid reader and that since she
loved to read, this book would too change her life. I gave her a copy of the
Book of Mormon and it happened to be one of the copies that had Dad's testimony
glued in it from the Advent from the day before. I had been praying to know who
I should give those copies out to. I felt like that she would greatly benefit
from hearing your testimony. I wanted to thank you, Mom and Dad, for your
testimonies of the Book of Mormon and how they will touch the lives of others.
We gave her our card and she said that she'd call us or talk to her friend who
was Mormon. Even though we didn't get her information (she said that she didn't
feel comfortable) I felt like that she would actually read it.

Also this past Friday
Elder Cook, Bishop Stephenson, and Elder Gonzalz came to our mission and spoke
to us. What a neat experience to shake their hands and hear them speak
specially to us in the Tempe, Arizona mission. The spirit was so strong like
when Elder Holland came to the MTC. He talked about how to extend a powerful
invitation followed by promised blessings, and then your testimony. Also they
talked about how important Preach My Gospel is and how inspired it is. I have
truly gained a testimony of this as well. They also talked about how important
the Book of Mormon is in the role of conversion. He gave a statistic of how
that only 20% of converts had read the Book of Mormon all the way through
before they were baptized. And those that did, were truly converted and were
retained. Before this conference, I had been getting the feeling that we needed
to amp up our Book of Mormon empasis. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and
I know that to be true. I am eternally greatful of our scripture study and
family home evenings as a family. My love of the Book of Mormon has been a
strong foundation that has helped me not only in my life, but especially right
now as a missionary.

We have a new
investigator! We taught Sandra on Saturday the first lesson- The Restoration.
She's Catholic and her husband had died last year. She recognizes the Holy
Ghost and said repeatedly throughout our lesson that she felt good and at
peace. She invited us back in two weeks (holiday craziness) to teach her the
Plan of Salvation. It's amazing how prepared she is and also her two boys. We
haven't been able to see her son Brian again since we saw him a week ago, but
we're hoping that we can teach all three of them. I'm worried that because she
said that she's happy now that she will think that she doesn't need to join
because she's happy now. We commited her to read the Book of Mormon and pray
about it. When we taught the First Vision, I got chills all over and it was
confirmed to me again that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he did
see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It's one of the most powerful
points in the lesson.

We haven't been able
to have a lesson with Gina again, but we are this week. We're hoping that
she has prayed to know how the Holy Ghost speaks to her. We did go with her and
her fellowships to the Mesa Visitor's Center to see the Christmas lights.
And...............I SAW KELSEY AKA SISTER HAMSTEAD! What I sweet reunion. I saw
her from the back and I wasn't really sure if it was her so I went up and
tapped her shoulder and she turned around and it took her like a second to
process that it was me. She stopped midsentance of talking to some members and
just grabbed my hand and walked away. (Probably not the best, but oh well :] )
She took me to the break room and we hugged and hugged and took a picture. We
could only talk for like 2 minutes, but at least we saw each other! It was so
surreal to see her!!! I wish that I could see her more often! The lights were
so pretty and I don't really know what Gina thinks right now. She's converted
to the social, but we need to see how she is spiritually. So this week we will.
:)

We're hoping to have
Sherry baptized this month and we meet with her tonight!!

We have three lessons
tonight, so we're hoping to teach more this week and that they'll actually not
cancel. :)